Loblaw launches click and collect service

Loblaw’s long-awaited click-and-collect online ordering program is finally underway at one store.

The supermarket giant launched the service on Friday at a single store in the Toronto suburb of Richmond Hill, with two more stores to add it in coming weeks.

Loblaw’s click-and-collect service includes a website, shop.loblaws.ca, where customers can order groceries, then pick them up at a drive-through (pictured) at the Richmond Hill store, located on High Tech Road.

Shoppers do not need to get out of their cars to retrieve their items. Instead, they press a button at the drive-through to buzz staff inside the store, who then bring the groceries out to the vehicle.

“We believe it is the ultimate in convenience,” Jeremy Pee, senior vice-president of e-commerce and omni-channels at Loblaw, told the Toronto Star.

Loblaw is charging a three- to five-dollar fee for click and collect, but the company believes many people will be willing to pay for the convenience it offers.

Loblaw’s new website has 20,000 items, and shoppers can customize their orders. For instance, they can ask for green bananas rather than ripe ones, the Star noted.

Because the service is only available at the one store so far, Pee told Canadian Grocer in an email that Loblaw is promoting the click and collect service “hyper-locally” through the weekly Loblaws flyer and in-store signage and messaging.

“We have click and collect associates in our store, engaging with customers and helping them understand the program, answering any questions they may have. As we roll out more stores, we plan to increase marketing and promotional activity,” he added.

Two more stores in Toronto are being adapted to handle click and collect: the Redway store in the city’s Leaside neighbourhood and a downtown store at 17 Leslie Street.

This is a great idea that is popular in Europe by some major chains – if I don’t need to shop and know what I want – it is a major time saver!

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